Vinod Khosla

High-powered lobbyist Rusty Areias raised eyebrows across California last summer when he announced that his wealthy client, Vinod Khosla, owned much more than the golden crescent of Martins Beach — he owned acres of wet sand and rocks beneath the Pacific Ocean.

It was a rare and audacious claim, running afoul of a basic tenet of California coastal access: that the state holds tidelands and submerged lands — also known as sovereign lands — in trust for the benefit of the public. Critics charged it was further evidence that Khosla, who has blocked the public from visiting the secluded beach on his San Mateo County property, was an arrogant, out-of-touch billionaire. Continue Reading →

Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, seemed to be keenly attuned to the interests of lobbyist Rusty Areias on Tuesday during a hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Too attuned, in the minds of some observers, who note that Alejo’s campaign fundraiser in Sacramento, Julie Sandino, is Areias’ wife.

Alejo was one of three Democrats on the committee who raised concerns before Tuesday’s meeting about the “heavy-handedness” of state Sen. Jerry Hill‘s proposed bill to allow public access at Martins Beach, a coastal property which billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla bought in 2008. The original bill would have instructed the State Lands Commission to purchase access to the secluded San Mateo County beach through eminent domain if Khosla refused to allow visitors to return. (In 2010, Khosla ended a decades-old practice of allowing the public to enjoy the beach in exchange for a parking fee.) Continue Reading →

Vinod Khosla and attorney Dori Yob leave the San Mateo County Superior Court building Monday after Khosla testified in the Martins Beach case. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Attorney Joe Cotchett smiled Monday as he strode out of San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach‘s eight-floor courtroom.

“If anyone believes that,” he said of Vinod Khosla‘s testimony, “I have a bridge I want to sell you.”

Cotchett, regarded for years as one of California’s top trial attorneys, had just spent roughly 75 minutes jousting with Khosla over the billionaire venture capitalist’s knowledge — or, more precisely, his almost total lack thereof — regarding Martins Beach, a coastal property Khosla bought in 2008.

Cotchett acted exasperated in court by Khosla, who alternately could not recall or refused to divulge his involvement in decisions affecting the property, particularly the history of public access to the shore, which Khosla’s property manager ended in 2010. The attorney was incredulous that someone could pay $37.5 million for a beachfront property without knowing that he was compelled to allow the public to visit. Continue Reading →